Latino Support For Obama A Bit Iffy

A poll conducted in late July and early August in 21 states with the largest Hispanic populations by impreMedia/Latino Decisions showed Obama with a 63% approval rate. That’s down from 68% in June and 73% in April.

Only 38% of the 500 registered voters polled said they were certain to vote for Obama next year, down from 49% in June.

The poll was done before the announcement that ICE would be reviewing 300,000 cases as part of a new prosecutorial discretion memo released recently, but the numbers should set off some emergency lights and loud sirens in the Democratic Party.

I’m of the opinion that polling should be done about Latinos’ intention to vote in 2012. Or ever.

There’s no doubt that Republican legislative attacks against Latinos and immigrants, not to mention the right-wing vitriol, could have easily placed Latinos in the (D) column for the next decade. But with that type of support should come action, and the polling shows the kind of frustration with President Obama that Latinos seems to have: Highly approved of, yet, iffy on voting for him.

I’m hoping LatinoDecisions does a poll on the intent to vote in 2012 because, As a Democrat, I find Latinos not voting worrisome since this would definitely affect our down ballot races. And the alternative isn’t any better.

Although the iffy-ness surrounding President Obama’s support will probably fix itself in the final percentage, how many Latinos who have voted in the past will just stay home? Let’s find some real evidence of how this might impact our democracy, because I’m tired of seeing the anecdotal evidence among some of my peers.

And when this evidence is found, maybe then will the high-dollar consultants, the nonprofits, and the campaigns invest in the voters, rather than just investing in a winning number.

There I go again with my idealism…

Immigration Not Number 1…Again

The poll showed that the economy has replaced immigration as the key issue for Hispanics. They, like many Americans, were put off by the battle over the nation’s debt ceiling and deficit reduction that concluded in early August.

This is not surprising. Immigration is one of those issues that Latinos react to depending on the rhetoric and legislative agendas. If Republicans start throwing terms like “backdoor amnesty” and “anchor baby” during state legislative sessions around the country, well, Latinos react. It is no different than what occurred in 2006 when the Sensenbrenner Bill was being debated. Well, now some legislative sessions are done and some anti-Latino bills are not in the spotlight as much, people go back to the economy, jobs, and their personal well-being. So, this will happen.

The Republican Primary will surely hop-up the anti-Latino rhetoric later this year and in the Spring. How Democrats defend will surely be noticed, but there’s nothing like a fight over policy to get Latinos moving, as Texas’ Republican sanctuary cities bill did in 2011.